The present invention relates to kitchen appliances and, more particularly, to a food storage device for keeping bread or similar items fresh.
Bread becomes dry and stale when kept in an otherwise dry or humid environment. Not only is dry or stale bread undesirable to eat, it is frustrating trying to keep it fresh long enough to avoid such an occurrence. While refrigerators are sometimes equipped with “crisper” bins to keep vegetables fresh, similar devices for keeping bread fresh are not as commonly available.
Various devices have been proposed in the art for keeping food items fresh, such as vacuum sealed bags. While assumably effective for their intended purposes, these are not practical for preserving bread or other soft or delicate foods. Other devices have been proposed for keeping bread in a vacuum secured container. Again, while these proposals are presumably effective, they still lack the capability to maintain a desired humidity and pressure or to provide safety precautions.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a food storage device for storing bread in a vacuum environment under predetermined pressure and moisture conditions. Further, it would be desirable to have a food storage device that releases pressure at a predetermined level and also when the door to the device is opened. In addition, it is desirable to have a food storage device having a construction that is strong enough not to compress or otherwise damage food or be damaged under high pressure.